A great deal of mechanical equipment has recently been introduced to assist body builders and exercise enthusiasts and to treat physical injuries.
However, there is no apparatus adapted especially for exercising one's abdominal or stomach muscles. Even in fully mechanized gyms or spas, one still sees exercise enthusiasts doing sit ups or the like for this purpose.
It is true that one can use an inclined table for doing abdominal exercises. Furthermore, one can attach weights directly to one's feet or ankles and do leg lifts. This is time consuming and does not allow for the quick adjustments that are characteristic of mechanized exercisers.
Prior developments in this field will be generally illustrated by reference to the following patents:
______________________________________ Patent No. Patentee Issue Date ______________________________________ D263,978 J. D. Brentham 04/20/82 D271,603 J. H. Berner 11/29/83 4,609,190 J. D. Brentham 09/02/86 4,722,525 J. D. Brentham 02/02/88 3,465,592 J. J. Perrine 09/09/69 3,103,357 W. E. Berne 09/10/63 2,689,127 R. G. Silverton et al. 09/14/54 ______________________________________
A number of the devices of the above patents use pneumatic cylinders to provide resistance to body movement. However, none teach a configuration which applies force to the body in the direction proper for beneficial abdominal muscle exercise.